“Zinc for Coin and Brass: A Commodity-Chain-Analysis Approach to Studying Resources in Early Modern Chinese History.” Ferrum – News from the Iron Library “Unternehmen Rohstoff. Natürliche Ressourcen in der Geschichte (Raw Materials. Natural Resources in History)” 92 (2022): 38–47 (original) (raw)
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Journal of Material Culture, 2017
The history of zinc in general and its contribution to China's material culture during the late Ming and early Qing period in particular is obscure. Specific issues have remained understudied, especially the historical demand for and production of this metal, as well as the locations of zinc mines. This article is the result of collaborative research that approaches these issues by employing and examining the historical development of zinc's commodity chain, in general, and by focusing on the early demand, in particular, for this metal. The authors discuss the emergence of demand for metallic zinc as a mint metal in the Ming, which spatially influenced the development and shift of zinc mining development from Guangdong province northwards and finally to Guizhou province in the Ming-Qing transition. Based upon primary Chinese texts, this article geographically situates the locations of zinc bearing ore (calamine) deposits that directly resulted in investing and developing zinc mines over this period.
Zinc Transfer from China to Europe via Trade, ca. 1600–1800: A Transnational Perspective
Technikgeschichte, 2013
Previous studies of zinc in China and Europe have largely concentrated on issues of the origin of zinc in a specifi c place but have not addressed the connections and relationships produced and used between China and Europe because of zinc. This paper is the fi rst attempt to approach the history of zinc transfer from China to Europe from a transnational perspective. 1 My narrative of this zinc transfer goes beyond a classical comparison of two trading patterns modelled on the major factors of transfer. Instead, by viewing trade as a vehicle for moving commodities and transmitting ideas, knowledge and technology, I interpret the transfer of zinc from China to Europe chronologically on two levels: both the physical movement or fl ow of zinc as an object or commodity that was being incorporated into producing a series of new goods, especially in such as imitating golden decorations; and the technology for producing the metal. In order to examine both aspects, I discuss Chinese zinc and European inventions within their larger technological, economic, political, social and cultural contexts and address the following questions: why did the large-scale use of zinc emerge in China? How did Chinese zinc arrive in Europe and how was zinc adopted as a new raw material? Why and how was zinc discovered and produced in Europe? As my fi ndings suggest, the arrival of Chinese zinc in Europe a ballast item led to its adoption in the production of new goods in Europe, for instance being used to produce imitation gold ornaments and toys. This use of Chinese 1 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for supporting my zinc research project under project leader Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel at the University of Tübingen, and the Organising Committee of the German Society for the History of Technology (Gesellschaft für Technikgeschichte) for inviting me to participate in their annual conference in 2011. I am truly indebted to Prof. George Souza for sharing his invaluable knowledge and insights and to Prof. Dagmar Schäfer for calling my attention towards a transnational approach and for her helpful comments on the earlier drafts of this article, particularly with improving my English. Thanks are also due to Dr. Marcus Popplow, Prof. Constantin Canavas and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable suggestions for revision and improvement.
Journal of Archaeological Sciences 43 (2014), 278-288
"The technology of zinc distillation at three large-scale production sites in Chongqing, southwest China, dated to the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368e1644), has recently been reconstructed from the analysis of production remains (Zhou et al. 2012). This paper presents the study by OM and SEM-EDS of zinc production remains from the later site of Dafengmen, in the same region, dated to the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1912). The main aims are to add to our characterisation of the Chinese technological tradition of zinc distillation, and to use a comparative approach to explore adaptations to different geological and sociopolitical contexts. The results reveal that at Dafengmen zinc-makers employed a broadly similar technology to those at the Ming sites, based on distillation by ascending in ceramic retorts, but they used lower grade oxidic zinc ores, a lower proportion of reducing agents, and elongated retorts of inferior performance, leading to greater losses of zinc. This is in spite of Dafengmen’s ideal location near the necessary raw materials. The reasons for the lower technical efficiency at the later site are explained in terms of different social, political and economic constraints."
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2014
The technology of zinc distillation at three large-scale production sites in Chongqing, southwest China, dated to the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368e1644), has recently been reconstructed from the analysis of production remains . This paper presents the study by OM and SEM-EDS of zinc production remains from the later site of Dafengmen, in the same region, dated to the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644 e1912). The main aims are to add to our characterisation of the Chinese technological tradition of zinc distillation, and to use a comparative approach to explore adaptations to different geological and sociopolitical contexts. The results reveal that at Dafengmen zinc-makers employed a broadly similar technology to those at the Ming sites, based on distillation by ascending in ceramic retorts, but they used lower grade oxidic zinc ores, a lower proportion of reducing agents, and elongated retorts of inferior performance, leading to greater losses of zinc. This is in spite of Dafengmen's ideal location near the necessary raw materials. The reasons for the lower technical efficiency at the later site are explained in terms of different social, political and economic constraints.
Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (2012), 908-921
Our understanding of zinc distillation technology in ancient China has traditionally been limited by a lack of studies of production remains. The discovery of nearly 20 zinc smelting sites dated to the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644) along the Yangtze River in Fengdu, Chongqing, southwest China since 2002 is allowing a detailed technological reconstruction of zinc production. This paper presents the analytical study by OM, SEM-EDS and EPMA-WDS of the production remains from three of these sites, including zinc ore, zinc metal, retorts and slag. The analytical results reveal the use of large-scale installations for zinc distillation with retorts made of pots, condensers, pockets and lids, all well designed to meet specific performance characteristics. The retorts were charged with iron-rich oxidic zinc ores, coal and charcoal; a high temperature of around 1200 °C and highly reducing atmosphere were achieved to reduce the zinc ores; the zinc vapour formed within the pots was cooled and collected in the condensers. The mass production of zinc in Fengdu was probably set up to supply governmental mints.
The Last Copper Century: Southwest China and the Coin Economy (1705-1808)
Asian Review of World Histories, 2019
Over the last millennium, the priority for imperial China's parallel bimetallic monetary system shifted from copper cash to silver bullion, a development that gained momentum with the influx of New World silver during the sixteenth century. This trend was altered when the Qing government increased copper production in the Southwest, thus inaugurating China's last copper century around 1705. This study focuses on those provinces where the wealth of China's copper economy was created: Yunnan, where copper for the metropolitan mints in Beijing was mined under relatively strict governmental control; and especially Sichuan, which maintained China's largest provincial mint and favored a more flexible cooperation between state and private structures. In these provinces, the interrelations between mining and minting can be observed most closely, the copper century lasted longer and showed a deeper impact, and the symptoms of its final crisis, like counterfeiting or coin debasement, became most apparent. This study aims to reassess our understanding of Chinese mint-metal mining and copper-coin production in practice and theory. It shows the importance of the internal market in huge land empires like China but also-through its interrelation with silver in the bimetallic system-its deep involvement in an increasingly integrated global economy.
OSL chronology of traditional zinc smelting activity in Yunnan province, southwest China
Quaternary Geochronology, 2015
The production of zinc has played an important role in both the technological and the economic history of ancient china. However, the lack of studies on zinc smelting remains with convincing chronology limits our understanding on the history of zinc production. Our recent field survey in Yunnan province, southwest china, has discovered zinc-smelting sites in Qiaojia County. The location is in the Jinsha River Valley, which has abundant lead, zinc, copper and mineral coals. Large numbers of crucible and slags were excavated, which indicates a large scale of zinc production in the region. A profile of 10 layers containing slag pellets altered with fluvial sediments presents clear evidence of a series of zinc smelting events. The ages of both the fluvial sediment and slag layers have been obtained using luminescence dating. Detailed chronology indicates that large scale of zinc production in this area can be traced back to late Qing Dynasty (AD 1854).
Chemical studies of Chinese coinage II: from Qin to Yuan (221 BCE-1368 CE
Heritage Science , 2021
This paper surveys of the chemical composition of the copper alloy coinage in China from the Qin Dynasty to the end of the Yuan Dynasty (221 BCE-1368 CE). It shows a dramatic change in the alloying practice used to cast these coins from the Qin unification (after 221 BCE), compared to that practiced in the pre-Qin. There are a number of shifts in the quality of the coinage from dynasty to dynasty, such as the obvious debasement of the Southern Song coinage (1127-1279 CE) when compared to that of the previous Northern Song dynasty (960-1127 CE). Particular attention is paid to the low levels of zinc in the coinage over the period. Although not as obvious as the switch to brass coinage in the Ming, certain periods do show occasional values of zinc up to 2-4%, which we suggest could reflect the sporadic input of recycled brass (Cu-Zn alloy) into the raw material melt. There were several major suppressions of Buddhism during this period, when Buddhist brass statuary was recycled into the coinage, providing a plausible mechanism for the injection of small quantities of zinc into the coinage alloy. A diachronic study of the amounts of iron in the metal, taken to indicate changes to the manufacturing process of copper, also show changes over time. The median levels of iron jump from the Qin (221-206 BCE) to the Western Han (206 BCE-9 CE), possibly reflecting the adoption of slagging processes in the production of the copper, followed by a gradual decline to the Northern Song (960-1127 CE), and a rapid increase during the Southern Song (1127-1279 CE). Finally, a study of changes in the content of silver over time reveals differences in the sources of lead, or changes in lead and silver extraction technologies, over the period.
Microchemical Journal, 2016
The study of zinc distillation technology in ancient China has recently been published by Zhou et al. 2012, 2014. From these two papers we know more detail informations about it. But, there are still some key technologies we do not know exactly. The first question is if there is any difference between the coal used as fuel or as reductant agent? We also don't know the exact smelting temperature in this kind of smelting activity. The last and most important thing, we know that the retorts were charged with zinc ores, coal and charcoal, but we know little about the exact ration between them. In order to solve these questions, this paper presents the analytical study by OM, XRF, XRD, DIL and SEM-EDS of zinc production that remains from the archaeological site of Lijiangerdui, in the same region, dated to the Ming dynasty, probably a few years earlier than the previous studies. The results indicated that there are different coals used for the smelting activity, and the smelting temperature can be as high as 1306°C, all of these are over 1180°C. The ratios for the raw material may be 1:2.7 [(coal + charcoal) / zinc ores].
From Secret Knowledge to Mass Production: The Wet Copper Industry of Song China (960-1279)
2014
Though it may be inevitable to invest many lonely and varyingly museful hours of work to bring a doctoral dissertation close to its completion, it is the interaction with others, which inspires us, the learning from others, which helps us to understand and the support of others, which makes successful results only possible. Hence there are many people and institutions deserving my special gratitude, because of their larger or smaller contributions to the thesis at hand. The first one is my supervisor and Doktorvater Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel. With the time, thought and energy he invested into mentoring me and my dissertation, he could easily have written a medium-sized book himself. He was never too busy to discuss the translation of the most difficult texts in their minutest details with me and had an open ear to my questions and demands at any time. I am as well very much indebted to Prof. Achim Mittag, who-as an expert of the Song period himself-was no less available to support me and will now act as a second referee for this thesis. Little would all this have helped if I would not have been given the chance to fully concentrate on my research for two years thanks to a generous GraFöG scholarship from the state of Baden-Württemberg. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) financed my field research